Certain refrigerator appliances utilize sealed systems for cooling chilled chambers of the refrigerator appliances. A typical sealed system includes an evaporator and a fan, the fan generating a flow of air across the evaporator and cooling the flow of air. The cooled air is then provided through an opening into the chilled chamber to maintain the chilled chamber at a desired temperature. Air from the chilled chamber is circulated back through a return duct to be re-cooled by the sealed system during operation of the refrigerator appliance, maintaining the chilled chamber at the desired temperature.
Certain refrigerators appliances also include one or more fresh food and/or freezer chambers configured for maintaining different temperatures for storing different types of food and drink. For example, a conventional refrigerator appliance may be formed as a side-by-side configuration wherein a fresh food chamber is positioned beside a freezer chamber. Both the fresh food chamber and the freezer chamber will generally extend from the top of the refrigerator appliance to the bottom of the refrigerator appliance. As another example, a conventional refrigerator appliance may be formed as a bottom-mount refrigerator appliance wherein a freezer chamber is positioned below a fresh food chamber.
However, problems exist with conventional refrigerator appliances. In the case of side-by-side refrigerator appliances, usable space is generally limited by the width of the chambers. In other words, a user may be unable to place certain objects within the refrigerator since the width of both the fresh food chamber and the chilled chamber is necessarily limited by the width of the other chamber. In the case of a bottom mount refrigerator appliance, it may be difficult to organize and/or access certain items. Small items, as an example, may fall to the bottom of the freezer chamber, where they may become lost or inaccessible. Moreover, since the freezer chamber must be viewed from above, it may be difficult for a user to easily determine what articles are items are within the freezer chamber. If a drawer assembly is used within a conventional refrigerator appliance, usable space (e.g., the depth of a drawer from front to back) may be further limited by the need to create a seal between a door of the refrigerator and the refrigerator cabinet.
In turn, further improvements for refrigerator appliances would be beneficial. For instance, it would be beneficial to have a refrigerator appliance addressing one or more of the above issues. Moreover, it may be beneficial to have a refrigerator appliance with one or more features for readily storing and viewing a broad range of articles at various chilled temperatures within a cabinet of the refrigerator appliance.